Friday, January 13, 2017

Sikkal Singaravelan Temple – The Temple

Sikkal Singaravelan Temple – The Temple

Sikkal
Navaneetheswarar Temple is the main temple. The Singaravelan temple is
found in the premises of Sikkal Navaneetheswarar Temple. Sikkal
Navaneetheswarar Temple is a Hindu
temple located at Sikkal in
Nagapattinam district, Tamilnadu, India. The temple is dedicated to Shiva, as the Moolavar presiding deity, in his manifestation as
Navaneetheswarar and Vennai Lingeswarar. His consort, Parvati, is known as Velnadunkanni. The 7 tiered Rajagopuram
that adorns the entrance to this temple is about 80 feet in height.

Inscriptions
from the Imperial Chola period and from the Vijayanagar period abound in this
temple which covers an area of about 2 acres. The Karthikai Mandapam in the forefront
exhibits a number of paintings depicting legends related to Subramanya. The
Vinayaka of this place blesses the devotees in the name ‘Sundara Ganapathi’.
Lord Muruga in the holy places, Ettukkudi, Enkan and Sikkal are alike in
structure and so it is said, that these three images are sculpted by the same
sculptor. On the North-western corner of the temple is a separate
sanctum for Aanjaneyar.

This is
one of the 64 Sakthi Peetams of Amman. The four deities Lord Siva,
Perumal, Murugan and Hanuman offering benedictions is a significant aspect of
this temple. Arunagirinathar has sung ‘Thirupugazh’ celebrating Lord
Muruga of this place. The temple is built on an artificial mound (a Maadakkovil said
to have been built by the king Kochengata Cholan). Shiva's shrine faces east,
while Singaravelar's and Ambal Velnedunkanni's shrines face south.
The jewelry adorning Skanda is of great beauty here.

Ganapati,
Mahalakshmi, Nataraja, the sixty three Nayanmars, Bhairava, Surya and Chandra
are also having Sannadhis at the respective places as per agamic
standards. The sthala vriksha (sacred tree) here is jasmine. There
are three holy tanks for this temple namely Ksheera (i.e. milk), Gaya and
Lakshmi Tanks.

Plaster
figures of Dhakshinamoorthy, Murugan, Natarajar, Thiyagarajar, Pathanjali,
Viyakrapathar, and of Gajendra Motcham, penance of saint Dhuruva are present
here. Beautiful painting depicting the marriage of goddess Parvathi is seen in
Kalyana Mandapam. There is a beautiful sculpture of Vaikuntanathan seated in
Perumal Sannidhi. Two cars with sculptures, kalyana chariot, and golden
vehicles are present in this temple. Gold plated horse, peacock, goat and
silver rishaba vehicle are present in this temple.

Kalyana
mandapam is found in front of the temple. It is full of artistic works. This
mandapam is huge measuring 300 feet in length and 60 feet in width. It can
accommodate more than 4,000 people. It was constructed in 1932. Karthikai Mandapam contains paintings from Kandapuranam. Abhisekam is performed
to Singaravelar here during Karthikai festival. Sani Bhagavan is also in
the koshtam along with usual moorthams.

Lord
Anjaneyar blessing the devotees has a separate Sannidhi in the North West
corner of this temple. There is an Anjaneyar here who is very famous in granting
our wishes in the outer praharam. The perumal Kolavaamana
Perumal here is resting before he takes up the Vamana Avataram after
praying to Lord Shiva. This is the adjoining complex.

The
scene where Lord Muruga gets vel from his mother Gnanambikai is spectacular.
The front Mandalam (figure) of Lord Muruga appears bright like gold, due to sun
rays falling on it. With music from four types of organs in the background and
a smiling face, Lord Muruga returns to Somaskandhar Sannidhi very quickly like
an arrow shot from a bow. Sweat appear like snow on the figure of Lord Muruga,
even when cooled with peacock feather, and dried with silk and rose petals.
Even if a part of sweat drops found on the walls of Sannidhi sprinkles, one
will attain the benefit of this life.